Princeton and Syracuse have joined a growing list of American universities that cover transition-related medical expenses for transgender faculty and staff under their employee health insurance policies.

Effective July 1, Princeton University’s employee health plan will include coverage for gender reassignment surgery. The Daily Princetonian reports that discussions of a similar change to the student health plan are “still ongoing.”

A similar expansion of transition-related coverage for transgender faculty and staff was adopted at Syracuse University late last month.

According to the Transgender Law & Policy Institute, some 19 other universities cover some level of transition-related medical cost for employees, with a longer list covering gender reassignment surgeries and/or hormones under their student health plans.

These inclusive changes at universities mirror the progress in corporate America. In the 2013 Corporate Equality Index (CEI), a record 287 major businesses reported coverage for transgender-inclusive health care.

In 2009 the HRC Foundation announced that earning 100 percent on the 2012 CEI would require employers to offer at least one firm-wide available health insurance plan that affords coverage for medically necessary transition-related care. Partnered with intensive educational and consultative efforts, these more stringent criteria led to a five-fold increase from 2009 to 2012 in the number of major U.S. employers affording transgender-inclusive health care coverage.

Learn more about the many forms of healthcare discrimination transgender people face and what employers can do to advocate on their behalf.